Afghan Connection supports education and sport in Afghanistan. It was set up in 2002 and has touched the lives of more than 280,000 people. The charity has funded 46 school constructions for more than 75,000 children and is working to ensure that every child has access to education.

Saturday, 6 October 2012

Worsaj 3rd October 2012

Sitting
by torchlight in the womens' quarters surrounded by a family of inquisitive
faces. The day started with Leslie asking me if I had felt the earth tremor in
the night and me thinking that that was the one worry I had not addressed! My
other anxieties have gone. When in Worsaj, you feel so well loved and taken
care of, that the security issues disappear. In Kabul, I don't feel the same,
but here, it is so beautiful and peaceful and the greetings we get wherever we
go, are so welcoming, that you feel completely relaxed and the only danger is that
the hospitality sometimes overwhelms!

I walked
before breakfast with Willie and Ned. We crossed the river and walked up in to
the hills. The pathways are lined with walls made from the smooth round river
stones and carved doorways lead in to shaded courtyards overhung with vines.
Children tend the cattle and sheep and turbaned farmers, scythes in hand greet
us as we pass.

Our first
school visit was to Abdul Basir Community Based School which is our big
fundraising project for next year. Nearly 100 boys and girls attend this school
on what seems to be the roof of the world. The children are studying outside or
in small dark classrooms. The land for the new school has been given by the
community and has a commanding view of the valley below. Mountains covered in
scorched dust merge into the bright green of the fields beside the river and
the chant of children's voices fills the air. The children are exuberant
learners and recite the times tables at great speed, without stopping for
breath. They are full of excitement about their new school. We visit 3 classes.
Then we are led to a guest room on the edge of the ravine. The view is
spectacular from the low wooden windows and at 9 am we get our second breakfast.
Huge plates of bread, chicken, mutton and freshly caught fish, with peaches,
pears and apples from the orchards. There is a former commander there who
fought with Masood and regales us with tales of the war.

Our next
visit is to Khadeja Kubretal girls school. Just 2 years ago, I was asked by the
headmaster to visit for a cup of tea. When we arrived, 2000 boys and girls were
standing waiting for us and asking us to build them a school! This time all the
girls were waiting for us and a brand new school was completed and looking
magnificent in the morning sunshine. Hundreds of girls showered us in glitter
and stepped on to the path to present us with garlands and bouquets. They sang
us a poem they had put to music, about us helping to build their school.After visits to the new computer room and library,
and fun in the classroom meeting the girls, we were confronted with more
outstanding Afghan hospitality and our 3rd meal of the day at just 11 am.

Annoy
school serves 600 children, who until now have studied outside in a windswept
and desolate valley. We managed to fundraise to build a new school and as we
climbed down the hill towards it, we saw the new building below us and again,
huge columns of children awaiting our arrival. There was clapping and cheering
and young children came forward to present their garlands and gifts of almonds,
scarves and embroideries. Mats were laid out for all the children and chairs
and tables for us, laden with fruit. All the community elders had come along.
We were thanked profusely for all our help. The best moment for me was when the
man who owned the land, and who had made it clear last meeting, that he didn't
want a school there, came up and thanked me and said he was very happy now that
the school was there, he even invited us for supper!

Bibi
Zainab was our next school visit. over 700 girls study here andwe are hoping to fundraise enough tobuild a new classroom block and resource
centre to be shared with the neighbouring boys school. The sight of yet more
girls, who had waited for us for so long and more garlands and clothes and
gifts and another table laden with food was overwhelming and deeply humbling .
Ten girls from Bibi Zainab went to university last year and this school's drop
out rate for girls is zero. This is exceptional in Afghanistan.Numbers of students are going up and up and
they are doing well at all the competitions being held between the schools in
this area. Such a positive place.

Our last
visit was to see Kemyan Primary School which is a small community based school
for boys and girls.Previously they
studied in a tiny dark building with a collapsed roof. The Bonita Trust has
funded AC to build a new school and though building only started in May, it is
already nearly finished. We had been told we would not see any children as it
was past home time....but again, they had all stayed on, boys and girls and we
had another incredible greeting. The Head man and his father were there and had
bought traditional Afghan coats for Ned and Willie and embroidered black coats
for Leslie and me. More food laid out and wonderful jovial conversations with
these larger than life characters who had fought the Russians and whose leader
was now fighting the Taliban in Logar with the Afghan National Army. We left in
a cloud of children and dust and I slept all the way home.....and home tonight
is another house in the mountains. Leslie and I are separated from the others,
which means no boys to help us with copious amounts of food! We are in the
women's area and have had a fun evening with the girls.

Inspired by a gap year working in rural India, Sarah Fane decided to switch from her degree course in French and Latin to study medicine at Bristol University. Her elective was spent in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, where she met with the Guildford Surgical Team. She returned with them the following year to Pakistan, and worked from a Mujahideen border camp, seeing female patients from the surrounding refugee camps.
Ten years later, having married, had four children, and done various in hospital jobs between children, she was asked to go to the Panjshir Valley, Afghanistan, to assess a mother and child clinic. The visit and the people she met inspired her to set up this charity.